Friday 21 May 2010

BBC News - 'Artificial life' breakthrough announced by scientists

 

Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell.

The researchers constructed a bacterium's "genetic software" and transplanted it into a host cell.

The resulting microbe then looked and behaved like the species "dictated" by the synthetic DNA.

This reminds me of the story of a group of scientists who, after years of work, finally produced a human being. They realised in their moment of triumph that someone had to take on the onerous job of telling God that he was redundant. No one was keen to do it and so they drew straws and the one who got the short straw got the task.

God listened patiently as this man explained that, in light of recent scientific advancements, God was now surplus to requirements. Then God said, “Alright, I see your point. Lets have a contest.”

“What sort of contest?” asked the scientist.

“Well”, said God, “You make a human being and I make a human being and whoever makes the better model gets the job while the other retires.”

“Alright”, said the scientist as he stooped down to take up a handful of soil.

“What are you doing?” asked God.

“I’m collecting up some of the basic building blocks of life” the scientist replied.

“Oh, no”, God said, “That’s cheating. You go and get your own dirt.”

 

No doubt there will be those who will worry about this latest development and, certainly, there are serious ethical issues to be considered. However it should be remembered that this synthetic living cell, while its creation is an incredible achievement, hasn’t actually been “created.” The genetic information pre-existed, as did the host cell, and what science has done is effectively copy the former and put it into the structure of the latter. No mean feat I am sure but nowhere near the actual act or process of “creation” as described in the Bible.

It is rather like typing this blog post. These words were already there, the computer on which I am typing already existed and, although I like to think there is some originality in my creating this post, the ideas were already out there. What I have done is take all these pre-existing factors and ordered them such that they express my thoughts. The worrying thing about this development is not that science is somehow making God redundant but that humans are doing these things without any reference to God. But then we have been doing this for some time now and on the whole the world is a worse place for it. As the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote, “There is nothing new under the sun.”

BBC News - 'Artificial life' breakthrough announced by scientists

Friday 7 May 2010

Christian preacher arrested by homosexual police officer for saying that homosexuality is a sin - CCFON.org - Christian Concern For Our Nation

Gays in uniform are now taking the law into their own hands. It is not enough that they are legal, they have to make anyone and everyone who disagrees with them illegal. They as fascist as any right-wing movement that defames and condemns them. Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens wrote:

‘The Public Order Act of 1986 was not meant to permit the arrest of Christian preachers in English towns for quoting from the Bible.  But it has.  The Civil Partnerships Act 2004 was not meant to force public servants to approve of homosexuality.  But it has.

‘The Sexual Offences Act of 1967 was not meant to lead to a state of affairs where it is increasingly dangerous to say anything critical about homosexuality.  But it did.

‘And the laws of Britain, being entirely based upon the Christian Bible, were not meant to be used by a sneering judge to declare that Christianity had no higher status in this ancient Christian civilisation than Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism.

‘But it has come to that this week,’ he wrote.

‘We have travelled in almost no time from repression, through a brief moment of mutual tolerance, to a new repression.  And at the same time, the freedom of Christians to follow their beliefs in workplaces is under aggressive attack.’

Christian preacher arrested by homosexual police officer for saying that homosexuality is a sin - CCFON.org - Christian Concern For Our Nation

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Religious Liberty Monitoring: PERSECUTION, whatever that is.

A thoughtful and intelligent blog on the nature of persecution asking whether we are being “persecuted” in the UK. Elizabeth Kendal’s Religious Liberty Monitoring blog is well worth the time to visit.

“When it comes to showing what we believe about the Lordship of the Risen Christ, I advocate that the Church stop wasting time appealing to "Pharaoh" (Exodus 5:15) and instead, look to the Lord, our crowing glory, for the "strength to turn back the battle at the gate" (Isaiah 28:5-6).”

Religious Liberty Monitoring: PERSECUTION, whatever that is.